CORDOVA ARREST
The police chief and three other police officers of Cordova town will be investigated for allegedly arresting a person for illegal drugs despite having found no evidence to support the arrest.
Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino, Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) director, said on Tuesday that they would investigate the alleged irregularities in the operations of the Cordova Police Station.
Espino was referring to the allegations of a relative of Elder Anoza, 36, who was arrested for possession of illegal drugs on Monday, which the relative posted on a Facebook page.
Director Augusto Marquez Jr. of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) read the online post and ordered the PRO-7 to verify the allegations.
The family of Anoza claimed that Senior Insp. Clemente Ceralde Jr., Cordova town police chief, allegedly together with three other police officers arrested Anoza for illegal drugs without any evidence to prove it.
When sought for comment, Ceralde, in a phone interview on Tuesday, denied the allegations.
He said that they were responding to a trouble alarm in Barangay Gabi at around 5 p.m. on Monday, and found two persons engaged in a fistfight.
The two persons who were fighting fled when they saw t Ceralde and the other police officers arrive.
However, Anoza, who was one near the area of the fistfight, was also apprehended and body frisked.
Ceralde claimed that they found a pack of suspected shabu inside one of Anoza’s pockets.
Ceralde said that they then read Anoza his rights and arrested him.
He said there were no irregularities in the arrest as they followed the proper police procedure to arrest a person.
He also said that they also confiscated the suspect’s mobile phone, which Ceralde claimed contained text messages showing that he was communicating with a person in the area to allegedly buy shabu.
Ceralde said that they were ready to face any investigation because they followed the proper procedure in arresting Anoza and that they had evidence to back the arrest.
Ceralde said that they were not also there to conduct an anti-drug operation, but they were responding to a trouble alarm, where they chanced upon Anoza, who allegedly had illegal drugs in his possession.